Portland mayor asks governor to call up National Guard

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The mayor of Portland, Oregon, and the state's federal prosecutor asked Gov. Kate Brown on Monday to call up the Oregon National Guard to help police in the state's largest city with protests that have spun into violence for three consecutive nights.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said at a news conference that Brown had declined to call up the National Guard on Sunday, instead opting for more involvement by the Oregon State Police. But when asked, Wheeler said he agreed with a call by U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy J. Williams to bring National Guard troops to the city to guard infrastructure such as federal courthouses and police offices.

“What I saw at the Justice Center …. was sickening. This has to stop and in order for that to happen in the city of Portland, we need help,” Williams said. “We need bodies, we need more numbers to do something to stop this ridiculous violence. This just cannot keep up.”

Brown's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Portland remains under a curfew order that takes effect at 8 p.m. nightly, but police did not stop several thousand protesters who violated the order late Sunday, in part because the crowd was so large, said Deputy Chief Chris Davis.

Police arrested 12 adults during protests Sunday and early Monday morning after authorities said projectiles — including “large, industrial grade mortar-type fireworks” — were thrown at officers as demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd continued in Oregon’s largest city. Two juveniles were also detained.

The violence came after thousands of protesters held a largely peaceful demonstration outside the Multnomah County Justice Center in downtown Portland. At one point, some police officers took a knee with protesters and three people in the crowd had a private talk with Police Chief Jami Resch, authorities said.

“We saw people at their very worst and we saw people at their very best," said Davis, who thanked protesters who remained peaceful. “Our strategy last night was to make sure that whatever happened, the police bureau was not the cause and so we decided to give them a greater space and give them the time to express themselves.”

Police said protesters smashed windows at the federal courthouse and through loudspeakers authorities declared the late-night gathering a civil disturbance.

The Multnomah County GOP criticized the police response in a statement on Monday, saying the Portland Police Bureau and Wheeler were being too easy on protesters and should not have allowed them to violate the curfew order without consequences.

“After all of Portland’s experience with mass protests, can the police really be so incompetent as to fail to encircle these crowds and arrest them all? Of course not. This is a deliberate policy choice to promoting further disorder," said Chairman James Buchal.

Wheeler said, if deployed, the National Guard would not have a role in crowd control but would instead guard federal, state and city buildings.

On Saturday, police arrested 48 people after downtown storefronts were vandalized and fires were set overnight. On Friday, at least 13 people were arrested amid Portland protests.

Elsewhere in Oregon, authorities said between 7,000 and 10,000 people gathered at the federal courthouse in Eugene on Sunday and marched to a local park in a peaceful demonstration. After the event ended, about 1,000 people continued to protest.

Some protesters surrounded a car after its driver sprayed something at them and another occupant fired a gun into the ground, angering the crowd, police said. Authorities intervened and no one was injured. In another incident, a man with semi-automatic weapon got out of a Jeep that was parked in the road but a protester was able to keep the crowd back until the man got back into the Jeep and left, said Eugene police spokesman John Hankemeier. The incident is under investigation.

In Salem, up to 400 people marched and got into a confrontation with police that resulted in between six to eight arrests.

The demonstrations were in response to the killing of Floyd, a black man who died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing. His death has prompted protests across the U.S. and Europe.